Minister Pledges To Regulate Letting Agents and Landlords

The government has bowed to years of pressure to clean up the private lettings industry by signalling new laws are on the way to regulate agents and landlords.

Communities secretary Sajid Javid made the announcement out of the blue as the Tory Party Conference 2017 started in Manchester.

Javid explained new laws are on the way to force letting agents to join a supervisory body that will ensure they maintain minimum standards and undergo training.

Buy to let and shared house landlords will have to sign up with an ombudsman scheme so tenants have an independent voice to listen to their complaints.

The minister also hinted a new property court will sit to hear gripes from private tenants about their landlords and letting agents.

Lastly, Javid hinted Chancellor Phillip Hammond may have an incentive for landlords to offer tenants 12-month tenancies wrapped up in his Autumn Budget 2017, scheduled for November 22.

“We will explore whether a new housing court could improve existing court processes, reduce dependence on legal representation and encourage arbitration, with benefits for both tenants and landlords,2 said Javid.

“We will consult with the judiciary on whether the introduction of a new housing court can meet the aim of saving time and money in dealing with disputes.”

“For too long tenants have felt unable to resolve the issues they’ve faced, be it insecure tenure, unfair letting agents’ fees or poor treatment by their landlord with little to no means of redress. We’re going to change that.

“We will insist that all landlords are part of a redress scheme and we will regulate letting agents who want to operate.

“Everyone has a right to feel safe and secure in their own homes and we will make sure they do.”

Javid promised a paper laying out the details of his plans would be published soon.

5 Comments

OK so what about the decent landlords who are let down by tenants, those landlords like me who spend about 25 – 30% of their rents on repairs, insurances etc, not to mention taking pressure of the local councils? If every private landlord shut up shop how would the councils manage? Clearly they wouldn’t, and where can a tenant take a council to court for disgusting and unsafe accommodation?
I’m sick and tired of being ‘got at’ from an administration that clearly does not understand that many private landlords have been forced into being so,through changes in OAP pension age, and are in effect offering an excellent service
My other big, and constant problem is local council allowing disgusting landlords to house disgusting people next to my tenants, making it more and more difficult to find tenants, and I am talking about predominantly private housing areas. Where is our court for these problems?

And, please remember half the population does live north of Watford and an empty house due to overcharging rents and bad repairs is now a council tax burden which is a high proportion of the rent receivable.
If this government really wanted to help the homeless why do they allow airBNB to make at least 30,000 people and families in London homeless every day, and probably 50,000 per day across the country.

I’m in favour of appropriate legislation. We have Rentsmart Wales which in effect does a lot of the things mentioned in this article, and I think it is a good thing – and isn’t expensive to join (basically a couple of hundred pounds for the training and 5 years registration). I do think, like the comment above, that the ‘property court’ should be a proper arbitrator between landlord and tenant – and not simply be there to protect tenants. As long as both sides get a fair hearing – and can access the courts – I think it’s a good thing.

I am in favour of anything the government can do to improve standards in the industry. I am not in favour of new regulation/legislation as I feel we already have enough of this and what is lacking is enforcement. If the government could do something to better enforce the existing regulations the industry would be a better place for all stakeholders.

As a ‘small’ landlord, I agree that standards of property to be let need monitoring. When I let a flat via Newham Council, it was subject to inspection & certain safety changes: to eg windows , were demanded, plus a Landlords Registration fee. However, I know that in other boroughs, no check is made on dilapidated properties where rent paid for. One Council, where dirt, dangerous loose electric wires & broken mirror glass were found by a prospective tenant, told me (her Advocate) that the Council had no responsibility for the state of properties they paid for.
All landlords should be subject to the same minimum standards.

I am in total agreement Marita we have been hit from all sides over the last couple of years adding the raft of already unfair and biased rules that are heavily weighted in the tenants favour Why is it that landlords can be owed hundreds/thousands in lost rent or damages and the tenants can simply walk away and leave the landlord to pick up the bill as well as standing the loss.
As to Jenny Howells comments I cannot believe how naive she is. I is own a number of properties in Wales and the Rent Smart Wales system is a joke it is disorganised and poorly run It has changed absolutely nothing except the local authorities now have a list of which Landlords owns what and the whole exercise was simply a)to put a Welsh slant on what was mostly covered by the various housing acts in the first place funded by the tax payer b) so they can exchange landlord details between HMRC and other government agencies, c) they can place draconian fines on landlords for misdemeanors. There is little or no benefit to any tenants from RSW and why should there be the law, deposit protection scheme are all weighted in the tenants favour.I was at the first meeting in Cardiff when the local authority were discussing HMO licencing and when I asked them will there be a charge like in Scotland the answer was No well we all know where that one went don’t we. I am a very good landlord and have only had one bad tenant and believe me it was enough Wake up guys this is only the start and it isn’t going to end well for the Landlords.